


Learning to Parent

by DeniedLove



Series: Geralt and Jaskier’s Cute Adventures [2]
Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, family unit, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 09:56:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22494190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeniedLove/pseuds/DeniedLove
Summary: Following the theme: Geralt and Jaskier are within the first few weeks of parenting Jakub and realize they have different views on how to raise a child
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Series: Geralt and Jaskier’s Cute Adventures [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1616710
Comments: 7
Kudos: 200





	Learning to Parent

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know of any situations you would like our dads to be involved in. 
> 
> At this point I have kept the entire work “mature” just in case as I never know what I’m going to write 
> 
> Thank you for the kind comments

Only a few weeks into travel with their new charge and Geralt’s head was starting to hurt from a constant state of stress and tightened jaw muscle. If he was not constantly worried about Jakubs general safety he was dealing with Jaskier’s usual jabber which now included the occasional response of “What’s that?”, “Why?”, and “EEEEK!” On a regular basis. The noise level has doubled. Oh how he missed the days of him and Roach silently walking through the woods to their next destination. To put it mildly, the tiny child was most definitely Jaskier’s by blood, there was no denying it. 

The three would have months of travel before they would come close to the sea let alone before they made enough coin to locate, find, maybe even build a small home base. 

To say that neither men knew anything about children was an understatement. Already in the past weeks Jakub had attempted to eat choke berries, ran away from a bee and almost fell off a cliff, tripped and sprained his wrist while chasing down a butterfly, tried to pick some nightshade, and burnt his tong on some very hot soup. There has been tears of fear, frustration, exhaustion, anger, and homesickness. At least once a day either man could be found with a small mess on their hands in the form of a confused child with little to no daily stability. Every time Geralt tried to teach the child the sensibility of order it was instantly forgotten to the chaos that is Jaskier. A week in and this was getting out of hand. 

Geralt’s entire memory of childhood at those point was mostly pain and suffering. Then training. He wanted to make sure his little charge would be safe and learn how to stay safe and manage in the world. Order and keeping that order would be his safety net. 

Jaskier on the other hand was raise with a silver spoon in his mouth. Maybe not a golden or gem encrusted spoon but a nice polished one at least. He had play dates, lessons from teachers, and even attended a bard university. 

The two men’s childhoods were so different it was making their ‘parenting’ ability’s almost nonexistent. 

One morning as Jakub was still sleeping Geralt was ready to attempt a new conversation he has never had to have before. “Jas,” as he’s roasting breakfast over the fire and his bard is tuning his lute, “the child...”

“Jakub, Geralt, the child has a name.” He is corrected yet again. This whole experience has been challenging for the Witcher... to say the least. 

Geralt suppresses a sigh and tries to keep his patience. “Yes, Jakub. He’s been getting a bit... rambunctious don’t you think?” His voice is not as neutral as he hoped it would be and he winces at his own tone. 

“What do you mean rambunctious? He’s hardly five of course he’s going to get into trouble.” Jaskier tightens another string on his instrument with a frown. 

“Yes, he’s bound to have energy but maybe he is a bit young to be running around with little... ah.... order?” Caution he warns himself. Golden eyes meet cornflower blue. Jaskier frowns and looks at the sleeping child. Geralt brings himself down to the bards level and puts a hand on one of his knees. “I ask that you watch the boy today and let me try some techniques when things get out of hand.”

“Techniques? Like what kind of techniques?” Jaskier doesn’t question the Witcher’s motives just his execution. Removing himself for Geralt’s close proximity. “What do you mean by out of hand? The boy is an angel!” Not really knowing what to expect from Geralt or his ‘techniques’, Jaskier starts to pack his items away for the day. 

“Jas, he almost ran into a tree fleeing us the other night because he didn’t want to go to bed. Just a little bit of order that sticks is all I’m asking.”

Jaskier is not an absolute idiot. Sure he’s made bad decisions and sometimes gets in the way but he knows that he does not know what he’s doing. It’s a bit overwhelming having Jakub here suddenly and having to keep him safe. He could hardly keep himself safe let alone a tiny human. He mulls over Geralts words as he’s tying his pack to Roach. “Look I don’t quite understand what your getting at exactly but I do agree that incident was not the greatest.” Jasper walks over to the sleeping bundle. He looks up to his Witcher. “I don’t know what I’m doing and no offense I doubt you do either. I just want him happy and safe.” 

Geralt has just finished with his own items. All that is left is to wake the child up, feed him, and get him moving. “We’ll figure it out.” ‘Love’ he adds in his head. It’s still hard for him to say those extra things out loud. He’s working on it. Going over to the other man he does however give him a tight squeeze hugging his love close. He places a light kiss on the bards lips. “We will figure this out.” He motions to the sleeping terror. 

He watches his sweet and ever moving bard bend down and wake the small child. “Morning sweetie.” Jakub grunts in return bring a smile to both of the men’s faces. One week in and he’d already picked up a few of Geralts habits too. Not enough of them for Geralts likening however. With time he will have the boy trained better. 

————

Jakub runs ahead of them and Geralt calls him back. Jakub runs behind them and Jaskier calls him back. Jakub runs ahead again and Geralt is not as kind with his voice the second time. Jakub runs behind them. Geralt lets out a heavy sigh of frustration which he does not bother to hide. “Jaskier!!” He growls his lovers name. Said bard stats to panic a little bit. “Love!” He calls to his son, “Get back here and stop running.” The little boy giggles and speeds past him. For a moment, just a moment, Jaskier thinks the boy is going to be too fast but he lets his held breath out when Geralt expertly fishes the boy off the road and holds him in one arm. 

“Stop running.” He commands the toddler. 

“NOOOOOHH!” Jakub wails in the Witcher’s arms. Their walking stops and Geralt shares a meaningful look with Jaskier. ‘Trust me’ it says. Jaskier nods his head ok but his look responds with ‘go easy on him please’. 

Geralt puts the boy back down on the ground but keeps him locked between two larger than life hands. Geralt is being gentle, he reminds himself to be gentle. He wipes away the large fake tears rolling down the boys cheeks. “You will stop running back and forth.” He commands the boy. He levels his eyes with little cornflower blues. “Do you understand?” The boy nodded his head and dried his eyes. In the best ‘I mean business’ tone he has Geralt finishes with the last part of his plan of order. “If you disregard my order you will receive a beating.”

“GERALT!” Jaskier rushes over to the small child and pulls him up into his arms. Sending the larger man daggers with his eyes. He turns to his little boy, “Please stop running around it is dangerous and you could get hurt. Ok?” Rubbing his face Jakub nods his head in agreement and Jaskier puts him down again. Holding the boys hand he continues past Geralt hissing “You can’t threaten a child!” 

Standing back up and grabbing Roches reigns again he follows behind the bard and child shaking his head. “I tried old girl.”

———

30 minutes of hand holding or ridding and squirming in his daddy’s arms Jakub just had to move again. He ran ahead with Jaskier calling out, turn on his heal with a large grin and ran back through dodging his dads grasp. Jaskier is really finally having enough. “Geralt!” He called and receives a grunt in response as the boy runs past him. “Oh for fuck sakes Geralt!” The Witcher’s face is made of stone. With a hefty sigh of defeat he pleads with his counterpart. “Not too hard. He’s just a child.” 

Jakub has taken his turn and is almost behind the White Wolf when in a show of his true speed Geralt drops Roches reigns spins down low to the ground facing the shocked little boy and grabs him up in his arms. “NOOOOOOH!” The scream is much louder this time. The Witcher stands there silently, holding the boy until he stops his wailing. 

“Done?” He asks. A whimper is his response. 

“What did I say earlier?” There is a sniffle and he can smell the tears streaming down the boys cheeks. “What did I say?” He repeats with more demand.   
There is some snuffling and finally with a hiccup, “If ‘m not good I’ll get a beat’n.” Jakub repeats with sniffles and snot. Geralt puts the boy over his shoulder and with one large hand whacks the boys bottom. Jaskier heat stops and his breath hitches but watching all of their unfold his stress releases from his shoulders. It wasn’t hard. In fact it was really a full hand tap. It was so far from a beating than he would have received if it was his fathers hand or from a whipping he things Geralt would have received. He really did need to trust his hunk of a Witcher more. Geralt waits a moment and listens to the hiccups to stop and the tears to dry. 

“Now,” he repositions the boy on the road. “You will go over to your... daddy, and apologize for making him worried.” Spreading his hand across his face Jakub drags himself over to his daddy’s waiting arms and returns the hug. “Em so sorry.” Jaskier rewards the boy with a kiss on the head. “You will listen now, yes?” The boy nods his head. “Good.” He turns the boy back towards Geralt who is already leading Roach again. “Go apologize.” He says giving the little boy a small tap in the White Wolfs direction. Geralt’s look of ‘please don’t’ goes ignored. With a trembling lip Jakub slinks over and wraps his tiny arms around one of Geralts great legs. “Em sorry papa.”

Jaskier did not hide his smile well as Geralt evened his eyes in his direction. They have had this argument a few times and no, Geralt has not won it yet. ‘Papa’ seemed to be Jakub’s name for him. It pulled at his heart and when it happens the first time it took all of his energy to hold a cluster of emotions down behind a mask. The title is still not going over well however, the boy was so young, and fuck if he didn’t love the boy. 

Patting the boys head he offered an idea. 

Soon the men were keeping a healthy distance away from each other. Geralt and Roach in the front and Jaskier strumming up the rear. Jakub dashed between them. Tapping Geralt’s hand or leg and then back to Jaskier. Back and forth for hours till he finally wears himself out and rides asleep in Geralt’s free arm. 

They are both walking side by side again. Jaskier strumming a lullaby he’s been working on. 

“So... ahm... what kind of basic organization are you thinking of Geralt?”

And so they finally had the conversation on how one parents a small child with way too much energy, very little parenting, and more emotions than either of them are used to. Some organization would prove to be hard for the bard and spontaneous was going to be something for the Witcher to work on. 

Jaskier prayed they would come upon a town soon. Strumming away on his lute he pretended to not notice Geralt placing a light and swift kiss on the sleeping boys head.


End file.
